Snow, recovering from the coma and her self-inflicted injuries, faces her cuckolded husband. Regina and Emma, unable to get back into Storybrooke, call Henry for help. Meanwhile, a dying dragon is returned to her mother.

Storybrooke ICU – a little earlier

While Neal was in his mother's treatment room, Henry stood outside in the little reception area, dealing with a flurry of messages. The first to David:

'Grandpa, where did you go? Gran's awake and she'd asking for you.'

But David was still sitting in the car outside, deep in thought. The fact Neal had woken Snow up with a kiss, when he hadn't been able to, played on his mind. And he felt ashamed to admit that as soon as her eyes opened, he felt the need to leave, his head now awhirl with everything they'd gone through. He now realised Snow's cruel actions had been caused by Ingrid's potion. He'd even watched it all happen before his eyes. And although seeing her being intimate with Ruby Lucas, right in front of him, had been more than painful to witness, that wasn't what bothered him the most. Nor was it the way she disparaged him and their past in the dream catcher, in front of her new lover as they lay in bed together. Nor the cruel and embarrassing treatment of their son in front of his friends.

No. It was the fact that she'd previously lied about the very foundations their marriage was built on, right from the start. Could he overcome her deception?

The loud message tone coming from his phone, broke him out of his reverie:

"Grandpa? Where'd you go?" Checking, he realised he'd been sitting in there well over an hour. It was time to face her.

"I'm outside. I'll be there in a minute."

~oOo~

"Henry?"

Regina made the call the moment she picked up a decent signal.

"Mum? Are you back yet?"

"Hardly! We had to turn back because we couldn't get over the town line! And there was no signal till after Brunswick. What's going on up there? And what's the hell's the Imp done this time?"

"Nothing, as far as I know. I crossed it yesterday, and it was fine then? I'll call him."

"Be careful. Without that bookworm restraining him, heaven knows what that swine will do next!"

Henry frowned, but knew arguing was pointless. Those two would never see eye-to-eye.

"I'll be fine. So you're in Brunswick? Should I come bring you in?"

"No, best not…" He heard Emma's voice in the background. "Probably best you stay as you're the only one with any influence over Gold. How's your grandmother? Any news?"

"Neal woke her up with a kiss, like I did you! She's awake but really poorly. Those pills she took may have wrecked her insides permanently? But at least she's awake and asking for grandpa. Like you guys, the potion's worn off. Neal's still in there with her."

"Thank god!" Emma breathed a loud sigh of relief, having feared the worst. "Look, tell her I'll get there as soon as I can, okay? If we can't cross the line tonight, we'll have to find somewhere to stay."

"Why don't you drive back to Portland? It's not too far from you and I can put you in the same hotel I put Ruby and Belle? I know the owners. You can compare notes before you get back? And maybe persuade Belle not to do anything stupid like go somewhere we can't find her? I'm gonna try and persuade grandpa to let her come back. The problem with you two not getting in here might be something to do with them, after all? I'll also talk to Merlin. Maybe he can help."

~oOo~

It was a good ten minutes after Neal had left that David finally walked into Snow's treatment room, for a conversation neither was looking forward to.

"Snow."

"David."

They spoke simultaneously, both looking awkward, as he moved around the bed. Although her eyes never left him, he avoided hers, until finally:

"I'm so sorry…" She reached for his hand, but he studiously ignored it. "For everything." He gave a small nod, but still wouldn't look up. "I know I've messed everything up between us. Henry and Neal told me how it happened."

"Yes, I know." His voice was distant.

"Henry also told me about the dreamcatcher? And Ingrid's potion. He said you saw…everything?"

Another nod.

"I'd give anything for it not to have happened. Everything that you saw - none of it was real, David. You do know that don't you?"

"You're wrong, Snow. Everything I saw was real enough. It happened. Even if there was a reason behind it."

"Then-?"

"I've spoken to Whale…" he deflected. "He wants to start you on dialysis as soon as possible. He asked me to sign the consent, as he thinks you're not currently in a fit mental state, to give your own. Under the circumstances?"

"Oh." Of course. Could someone who's recently tried to commit suicide be fully trusted to make rational decisions? "I understand. And did you? Give consent?"

"No. Not because I don't think you're mentally competent to make it. But, well, I'm not your husband anymore, am I? We've divorced."

That hurt Snow even more than her injuries. And worse, it was all her fault. She was the one who arranged for the lawyer to draw up the papers quickly, which she'd signed before she left his office. "You…you signed them?"

"It's what you wanted." He nodded again, but still wouldn't look at her.

"I wasn't in the right frame of mind! I'm sure we can get everything reversed or rendered null and void by Jeff and the Court."

"Maybe, maybe not. I don't know." He seemed disinterested. And his nonchalance broke her heart even more, if that was at all possible.

"Don't you want to put it behind us? It wasn't my fault, David. You saw that!"

"Oh, I saw many things, Snow!" Now he finally turned to look at her, his eyes red. There was no anger in them, but there wasn't any love there either. Only hurt. Pain. "Dot and I sat through your last two weeks. Yours and Ruby's. All condensed into a few hours? All the time you spent together. From the time you went into the forest to search for Fiona. And you know what hurt me the most?" She shook her head, feeling ashamed. It reminded her of an incident with her father, the King, when he'd upbraided her for lying to him about something. A look of disappointment. "It wasn't the sex, oddly enough. Although my goodness, the two of you had an awful lot of that, didn't you? It was what you said to her before and after. When you lay together, telling her every intimate detail about our love life? My apparent shortcomings? Comparing me to what you had with her, in a less than flattering light, to put it mildly."

"I didn't mean any of it!" She closed her eyes, desperately trying not to cry. But he still wasn't done.

"That was bad enough. But then you reconfirmed everything you said when I first caught the pair of you? In our own bed? That you'd been in a longer term relationship with her before I even met you? That you were so glad she was the one who took your virginity, not me?"

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too. You know, if you'd been honest right from the start, I wouldn't have given a damn? I wouldn't have cared one jot whether you were a virgin or not when I first met you. Or if you'd fucked half the Royal Court? I wouldn't have cared!" He shook his head. "But instead you lied to me right from the start. Something we both said we'd never do. Two weeks ago you said, to my face, that you hid your past to protect your rights to the throne. To have people think more highly of you? To protect your position. To maintain your right to be the future Queen Snow of Misthaven. You lied to the one person to whom you owed the truth. Me."

"But I was never unfaithful, David! Never! Not until-" She reached out for the handkerchief box. "From the moment I met you, I put everything I had with Ruby behind me, willingly. And she accepted it, knowing I'd fallen in love with you. She even encouraged me to be with you! What she and I had then was very different, and it doesn't even begin to compare to you and me. We created a true love child! We created the Saviour with our love. She even has magic because of us! "

"So does Neal. remember? It came out when you were in your coma. The stress brought it out early. Too early."

"Neal?" That was news to her, though Merlin had told them three years ago that the potential was inside him. "He never said anything?"

"He knows how much you hate magic."

"But it only proves even more that you and I were meant to be! David, I love you, and I'm in love with you. I'm your true-"

"But you're also in love with her, aren't you?" He interrupted. "Ruby. And please don't lie anymore? Ingrid's potion doesn't make someone fall in love, because no potion can do that. It just increases what you already feel, tenfold. Maybe more."

"David, I'm NOT in love with Ruby!" Tears now rained down her cheeks. "She's part-werewolf. She finds it almost impossible to have any single monogamous-" She stopped herself. What she knew about her recent lover was for Ruby to explain, not her. " Yes, I'll always love her, and she's my closest friend, but there's nothing more, I swear! Leaving aside whatever happened in that cottage and the damn potion, whatever she and I had in the past had been over for a very, very long time! You have to believe me!"

He wanted to, he really did. But things had changed, and he couldn't be sure. Not yet. So he changed the subject. Again.

"Did Henry tell you what happened to Ruby after you took those sleeping pills?"

She shook her head.

"It appears she'd also been having regular one-night stands with other people, including Belle, over the last few years. Gold found out."

"Belle?" Realising the implications, Snow looked genuinely horrified. It was a tightly-kept secret that she assumed, only she knew about. "What's he done to her?"

"She's still alive, if that's what you mean? He threw them over the town line. Both of them! I saw him do it. He was about to throttle Ruby when something stopped him. They're gone. Henry's got them staying in a hotel in Portland."

"Henry again? How does he even know all this?"

"He's Gold's grandson, isn't he? He stopped them going too far by heading them off and found them a hotel." He stood, moving to the window to look outside. Rather than at her. "He's also spoken to Emma this morning. She and Regina fled to Miami after they were booted out of office, with magic-blocking cuffs on. Henry was the one who put them on them in the first place. They're coming back today apparently; no doubt remorseful for everything they've done. Hank Morgan, who's now Interim Sheriff, is planning to arrest them when they do. For attempted murder, slavery, imprisonment, assaulting a child, abuse, and a few other things besides! And you know, our granddaughter and son-in-law are nowhere to be seen? The Jolly disappeared two weeks ago, after Emma tried to kill Killian on deck, in front of Hope. It's been an interesting couple of weeks Snow, while you've been busy having fun at the loft with your lover."

It was an unnecessary, spiteful aside, and he knew he shouldn't have said it. But she didn't argue, knowing he'd probably cool off, eventually. There was another long silent pause, as Snow tried to digest everything.

"Taking those pills was probably the most stupid thing I've ever done, and I'm sorry I put your own life at risk by doing that! You see, I woke up that morning having visions? That's when I had the horrible realisation of everything I'd done; and everything I've put you through. I even had a nightmare where you killed me! I lost it completely, went downstairs and threw up, and just wanted to end it all. That's when I saw the pills. Again, I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."

"I guessed. Well thanks to Merlin's operation, that can't happen again. He told you about the hearts?"

"He came in here earlier. I gather we're not tied together like that, anymore? So if one of us dies, Neal and Emma don't lose both of us? It makes sense."

"It was the only way to give your own heart the strength to recover. But there was another side effect. Did Neal tell you he woke you from the coma?"

"He did…" She allowed herself a sad smile. The first since he'd entered the room. "He said he kissed me awake. He was quite proud of himself! He said everyone else in the family had done it, and it was his turn."

"Yes, but I tried the same thing on you less than a minute before he walked in. It didn't work for me though. Merlin warned me it might not."

"David, I know that after everything that's happened, I can't even begin to apologise enough for everything I've put you through. For misleading you about Ruby and me to begin with. But, do you think we're eventually going to be able to get past this?" And will you ever, truly forgive me?

"I agree, we have to find a way, if only for Neal's sake. But as for you and me? I'm not so sure. I can forgive you Snow, but I don't think I'll ever be able to forget our marriage was founded on lies. Honestly, I don't know."

Portland, Maine

It was almost seven in the evening when Regina and Emma finally checked into the hotel, following the failed drive all the way from LaGuardia, coupled with another hour turning back from Storybrooke to get back to the port town. They were more than tired; but knowing the little hotel was owned by parents of Henry's friend, Regina did her best to be polite to the manager on duty as they checked them in, Henry having reserved them a double room, the last available.

However it seemed he'd not only booked it, but also told two temporary guests of their imminent arrival, as Ruby came out from the lounge, followed by Belle as they received their room key. Normally, in her exhausted state, Regina would have given them short shrift at their timing. But they were more than desperate for any news of their loved ones since they'd left. So instead the four sat at a table in a quiet spot in the lounge.

"Emma, have you heard about Snow?" Ruby asked, fearing the worst. "And Dorothy?"

She nodded. "Henry told me she's out of the coma, but it's not looking good. As for Dorothy, all I know is she's staying on the farm with my dad. We're as much in the dark as you are! We couldn't even get over the town line this time, yet I've done it dozens of times before. That's why we're back here!"

While Emma talked, Regina stared back at the librarian, remembering what her son had told her.

"Henry said you were in the room at your place, watching a dreamcatcher, along with Robin and your husband? What exactly did they see?"

Belle grimaced. "I don't think you want to know."

"No, I do! Henry's avoided talking about it, but despite fearing the worst, I need to know. I'm going to have to go and face Robin soon, in the vain hope of trying to save my marriage. So yes, it's important I know what I'm facing?"

"Very well. He saw everything. Everything you two said, and everything you did, when you two were together. From the time you left the Sheriff's Office on that weird wild goose chase to find Fiona, up until a day or so before you left. He also saw the two of you having sex numerous times, and everything you said in between. Henry turned to look away during the graphic parts, even though fortunately, they were eventually sped up. But he heard enough. They also heard you plotting Sidney Glass's fake testimony, so you could get them evicted from their new hamlet. Looking at Robin's face as he watched it, I think it was your trash-talking him that really hurt him the most?"

Seeing Regina flinch as she tried recalling whatever she'd said, Emma jumped in. "Henry said Killian didn't see any of this and he's left town. I know he hates Gold but he always trusted you. Have you heard from him?"

"No one has, for at least a week. You may need to speak to Robin. He might have an idea where he's gone."

"Well if he's gone realm-jumping with my daughter, I wouldn't even know where to start!" Emma rubbed a hand over the tattoo on her wrist. "So it seems we're all in Henry's hands? He's the only one, according to your husband, who can get these bloody things off. I can't even start looking, until then!"

Regina heard a blip on her phone, as a new message came in. "Just as well he's arriving here in the morning then, isn't it? He just messaged me, saying he'll be with us around nine."

Meanwhile…

As they stood close to the Storybrooke side of the town line, three powerful magic practitioners looked at the empty road stretching into the distance, waiting for the ambulance to appear.

"You're quite sure Lilith is with them?" The tall woman in black seemed unusually anxious.

"Merlin's heard from the driver, dearie." He glanced across at the older, but younger looking man. " She's on board. I gather the Sorcerer's letter helped."

"Let's just say I called in a few favours?" Even Merlin himself seemed apprehensive, an even rarer trait for him, a wizard nearly as old as the dragon herself. "And while I don't doubt the veracity of what you said Maleficent, it's been a very long time, hasn't it? You're quite sure she's mine?"

"Over fourteen hundred years, give or take. You mean do I recall the identity of the only human who ever impregnated for the first and only time in my existence? Of course I'm sure! Had an earlier Dark One, and Charming, not killed me since then, Lilith would have been with me and perhaps I wouldn't have allowed my darkness to reign over me for so long. Yes, you're definitely the father."

"I see. Remind me again why, once you knew, you didn't try to find me, to tell me?"

"First, I didn't even know I was pregnant until after my first resurrection. Second, centuries had passed. And once I realised you weren't a Dragon called Draco, but a human wizard, I had no idea you were also an immortal. Thirdly, once I found out more about you, that you were the keeper of white magic, I'd assumed you'd almost certainly wish to take her from me and keep her in the lands without such magic? A land I cannot cross into, without being instantly vaporised. Are those reasons enough?"

"Fair point," he blew out his cheeks. "But it pains me greatly to discover I had a child I knew nothing about. My powers allow me to see other people's futures, but alas, not my own."

"Yes, but you've sired hundreds of children over millennia, haven't you? While I only have the one! And sadly, thanks to the actions of a meddling princess and your ridiculous apprentice, I lost Lilith for almost her entire life! Even now, she only comes here under duress."

"I see…" Merlin studied her. "So, the two of you don't get along?"

"We get on perfectly! But sometimes, we have…issues."

"I see..." he rubbed at the light scuff of his beard. "So once we heal her, will you tell her about me? Or will you leave it for me to do so? Either way, she'll discover who her father is, and I certainly won't leave until she does!"

"I'll tell her! She hates me anyway, and she doesn't even know you exist, let alone the fact you're here. So no, this is my burden."

"Very well then." He looked back at Rumple. "Mr. Gold, when did you first suspect I was Lilith's father?"

On the Sorcerer's rare visits to Storybrooke, The Dark One always kept his distance from him, fearing the man who's extraordinarily powerful white magic, which came from the Holy Grail itself, would almost certainly be greater than his own, darker magic. And he was never going to take the risk.

"When her daughter was last here. I thought I detected your trace on her? But I was never certain. However, when Maleficent requested a means to save her, it seemed an obvious solution."

"And his price?" He looked back at Maleficent. "The cost of a deal with The Dark One, especially for The Princess of All Evil, would be exceptionally high, I suspect?"

"It's already been agreed, and partly settled. I'll be settling the rest the moment I speak to Lilith, after she's healed."

"I see…" Merlin nodded, frowning as he recalled something she'd said. "You mentioned being 'vaporised', the moment you crossed the town line? Whatever makes you say that?"

"I'm a dragon! In Lilith's world I'm a creature of myth and legend. If I so much as cross that line, I disappear."

She noticed his arched brow, as he turned to face the Dark One. "Did you tell her that?"

"No, dearie, we've never spoken of it." He then gave a dry humourless chuckle which seemed to rankle the dragon, who's eyes were now bulging.

"WHAT?" If Mal could have used magic against him, he'd be ashes by now. "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY TELLING ME I COULD HAVE LEFT HERE, AND GONE TO SEE HER AT ANY TIME? YET YOU SAID NOTHING?"

"You never asked, did you?" With that malicious grin, she was reminded just how far the Dark One had taken over the spinner's mind. And conscience. "I was always surprised you never wondered how your cephalopodian friend and sadly-missed occasional lover, Ursula, managed to remain in New York for so long till I brought her back?"

"You insufferable bastard! You-"

"If it hadn't escaped your notice, I'm the Dark One, dearie? I grant a person's deepest wishes and darkest desires, only in return for a deal. In this instance, giving me the truth stone in return for securing your daughter's return and curing her of her ailments. It's what I do."

"But…but…I could have had a life with her! Merlin, is it true? Can I just…leave here?"

"Of course you can! Admittedly our dragon side would cancel itself out, and you'd have no access to your magic or use of your powers, but you'd look just like any other human being. You would eventually age and die of course, but that's only right. Of course, another option would be for Lilith to be persuaded to come and live here?"

"She refuses! The last time she said her darkness, or should I say the Saviour's darkness, which your old fool of a student put inside her before she was even born, takes over."

"Well I think I may be able to help with that. I can undo my apprentice's damage."

~oOo~

Ten minutes later, the ambulance slowed as it came around the curve, the driver checking their position against a little hand-drawn map he'd been given.

"I reckon we should be here about now? What do you think, Paul?"

"You reckon?" The taller man sat up, peering over his shoulder, at the empty road ahead. "I'm not so sure, mate. I-" but he stopped talking the moment two figures suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, having apparently stepped out from nowhere. One shorter, an older man wearing a formal dark suit, unusual in the middle of July. And the other, a taller, slimmer, darker-skinned man in casual clothes. "Yeah, looks like you're right. Pull up just in front of them, Clive?"

Two minutes later, Merlin and Rumple came aboard the ambulance. However, Rumple noticed the Sorcerer was immediately recognised by both men, the larger of whom embraced him in a warm hug.

"Merlin, you old dog!" Paul pulled him into his arms like a bear, laughing. "You do seem to get around, don't you? What the heck are you doing around here?"

"It's lovely to see you too, Paul." Lily looked up with tired eyes, watching as the two clearly close friends embraced. "I'll explain all in due course, old friend. However, we do need to drive this very poorly lady over the town line and treated as a matter of urgency!"

However, Lily was no longer looking at them, her attention focused on the second, smaller man in the suit, who'd also climbed into the ambulance. A man she last spotted over three years ago. A man she knew who, according to Emma, that he was a clear and present danger to all.

"What…what the hell's the Dark One doing here?" Her eyes never left him.

"And hello to you too, dearie!" The Dark One smiled his crocodile smile at her. Something which she found even more disconcerting.

"Lily?" Merlin stepped forward. "You and I have never met before, but I knew your mother from long ago. Longer than you could possibly imagine! You have nothing to fear and everything to gain, I assure you. It's thanks to Mr. Gold here, that we managed to get you out of that hospice in the first place! We'll be driving you over the town line in a moment, where your mother is already standing by, waiting for you. We'll be taking you straight to a local hospital where Mr. Gold and I will together be using light and dark magic to treat you. After that, you, your mother and I have much to discuss."

Too weak to argue, she just nodded. Three days ago, she'd resigned herself to a lonely death in a downtown hospice. And now? Was there hope?"

~oOo~

Minutes later, after a tearful reunion between mother and daughter, the ambulance was quickly driven away. However, it was only as Merlin watched the ambulance leave for the hospital, he noticed that The Dark One had stayed on the opposite side of the town line, looking at the open road south.

"Mr. Gold, we're needed. Is there a problem?"

"No problem," Rumple now seemed noticeably melancholy. "I'm just taking time to think."

But Merlin knew all too well how, over the centuries, the Dark One worked against its human hosts. And the heavy weight its presence bore on the spinner. After all, the very first Dark One was created by his own carelessness with the grail, in the form of Nimüe. "Feels good, doesn't it, having the darkness temporarily lifted from you, while you're outside of its control out here? Even if it is for the briefest of moments."

"Aye…" He seemed reflective, clearly worried about something. "Aye, it does. I forget you have some experience with Dark Ones?"

"You could say that…" the Sorcerer nodded slowly. "The first woman I ever truly loved was seduced by the darkness of the entity currently living within you as we speak. You know it can be removed, if you really want it to be, don't you?"

"Not possible," Rumple shook his head. "It can't die; only move on to some other poor sap. It happened once before, when the Saviour herself absorbed it. I absorbed it again later."

"But what if you never went back to Storybrooke, ever again Rumple? What if you were to live outside magical realms, like the rest of us? You have more than enough money to live a full and extremely happy life, without being under its constant control, don't you?"

He turned and looked at the Sorcerer as though he's grown another head! "The moment I start to think, or even plan, for that eventuality the Dark One would force me to stop. It craves only power and control. You of all people should know this?"

"It's one of many reasons I choose to live most of my time in the land without magic. But what if you could, Rumple? What if you could leave the Dark One behind for ever? After all, it's only brought you pain and misery. Wouldn't you wish for a better life without it?"

"What are you saying? The moment I cross that line, The Dark One'll instantly know my thoughts! He'll act against me to prevent any escape?"

"Not necessarily, Rumple. If you wish, I can remove the last few minutes of this conversation from your memory completely before we go back? I can implant a devious plan, requiring you to leave Storybrooke for a few days, giving you time to think about and plan for what you really want. Then I can help you deliver it. You could be free of the darkness for good! And make a better life for young Gideon. What do you think?"

But Rumple looked up at him and laughed. "Ha! You surprise me, Sorcerer! You're even older than me and despite having dealt with it from its very creation, you still don't seem to understand how The Dark One thinks? It'd detect any scheme quicker than you could even imagine it! What on earth makes you think you know better?"

"Because at its core, the darkness needs ever more power. Power over dark, and power over light. Power over me! Interested?"

Rumple studied the other man's weird violet eyes. The eyes of the man, if indeed he was still a man, that had witnessed so much over two millennia. The only man in the entire magical world with more powers than himself. The only wizard able to use magic in a non-magical world. Could he really remove his darkness forever?

"Keep talking."

~oOo~